


Lockers and Love Letters

by morganofthewildfire



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29891241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganofthewildfire/pseuds/morganofthewildfire
Summary: Another high school au Drabble! I saw something similar to this idea somewhere but I didn’t remember where, but I figured it would be cute to write!
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Rowan Whitethorn, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn
Kudos: 28





	Lockers and Love Letters

The note was a short one today, but it still left Rowan smiling softly as he trudged to his first period.

_ My darling, all I want is to chase beautiful dreams with you _

  * _By Alexandra Vasiliu_



It had been taped to his locker like they were every morning, a little poem to start the day. It was always a different one, but with the same folded up paper, the same single piece of scotch tape holding it to the metal, the same curly handwriting that was somewhere in the middle of print and cursive.

He didn’t know who was doing it, had never gotten a hint in the month it had been going on besides the words that were written and the handwriting that he couldn’t identify.

At first he’d thought it was a prank, one of his friends trying to get a rise out of him, even if it seemed like something they’d do two years ago in middle school, not now. Because they were all love poems, or something similar enough to imply that whoever was finding and giving them to him was interested in some way.

But when none of his friends fessed up, and the notes kept appearing without fail, he figured it wasn’t a prank. Which meant someone out there maybe liked him, someone he didn’t know.

In the back of his mind, a thought that Rowan didn’t like to acknowledge, he hoped that it was Aelin Galathynius. She was miles out of his league, a gorgeous girl with flowing golden hair and clear blue eyes, with a fiery personality and stunning intelligence and wit that drew him in while also threatening to burn him if he got too close.

He was half in love with her, but he was pretty sure she didn’t know he existed. She’d certainly never paid attention to him in the single class they had together, coincidentally the class he was going to now.

Aelin’s and his friend groups never really interacted, outside of his friend Lorcan, who was “talking” to her friend Elide, so outside of that class he never really talked to her either. But he really wanted to. He wanted to get to know her, her likes and interests, her fears and her worries, her favorite things and places, pretty much everything he could possibly know.

But Rowan was too shy to even try. So he just pined from across the classroom, positive she would never pine back.

He sighed and tucked the note into his backpack, joining the ever growing pile, as he made his way into the Honors English room, nodding slightly in greeting to Mr. Emrys as he passed his desk and went to his own toward the back corner.

Aelin was already in her seat as he walked by her, her hair tied back in a loose braid as she chatted with the girl next to her. Neither of them technically had friends in that class, but she made friends wherever she went, so it was never an option for her to sit there in silence like he did.

Rowan leaned against the window, the reason he liked that seat, and stared at the trees outside, watching as the birds all flew around, stretching their wings in the early morning hour.

He stayed that way for who knows how long, barely listening as their teacher started talking. He only managed to snag a few parts of his speech, due to the words “partner project”. 

He snapped his head to the front, watching as everyone else glanced toward their friends, already subconsciously picking who they’d work with. But the gleam in Emrys’ eyes made him nervous.

“I’ve already assigned partners,” he said, making everyone groan, “and don’t complain about not working with your friends. This is a big grade and I don’t want you guys wasting time gossiping.”

Rowan huffed, listening vaguely as he read out the list, chuckling slightly as people got paired with others he knew they hated. When Manon Blackbeak got paired with Dorian Havilliard, he almost laughed out loud, knowing the pair would either get along too well or burn the whole school down out of rage.

“Aelin Galathynius and Rowan Whitethorn,” their teacher read, and his face paled, and then reddened dramatically as she turned to look at him. He thought he saw a faint flush rise to her cheeks as well, but he figured he was just projecting. “Okay now get to work! You have all class period.” And with that, he was thrown to the wolves.

Rowan fidgeted as everyone shuffled around the room, watching warily as Aelin moved to sit down next to him, clutching her backpack and lunchbox with her.

“Hi,” she said quietly with a little wave, tucking a stray hair behind her ear as she pulled out her notebook, a pen, and her copy of the book they were supposed to have read.

“Hey,” he managed to say, coughing slightly as he stuttered on the word. The sound made the corner of her lip quirk up into a half smile, and that little expression made his heart warm.

“So…” she started, opening her notebook to a fresh page and clicking her pen. Rowan stumbled to get his own out, figuring he should help her even if he didn’t even know what the project was. “How do you want to start? Should we just try and go through the sections of the book first?”

Rowan must’ve been staring blankly because she laughed, a musical sound, and looked at him with a warmer smile than before.

“Do you even know what we’re working on?” She asked, tilting her head, and he had to shake his head in admittance.

“I wasn’t really listening,” he murmured, cheeks flushing again as Aelin pointed to the board at the front of the room, where the directions unmistakably sat.

“We’re supposed to be answering those questions and then putting it all into a PowerPoint to share to the class at the end of the week,” she explained, “I don’t really know what the point of having us all do the same thing is, but whatever.” She shrugged, already comfortable with their partnership.

That was the thing about Aelin Galathynius. They’d barely spoken, but she had the magic to make you feel like you were old friends. 

Rowan thought of the note in his bag, that rebellious hope growing slightly stronger. 

“Did you see that crash down on Perranth street this morning?” She asked as she copied down the list of questions. “I was already here, I always get here before everyone else because my cousin drives me and he refuses to leave any later,” she prattled on, “so I didn’t see it but I heard it was bad.”

Rowan cleared his throat, shaking his head again. “No, I live in the other direction so I didn’t pass it.” 

He didn’t mention that he’d already gotten to school before that too, asking his mom to leave a little earlier so he could try and catch his mystery letter writer, but without fail, the note was already there. 

He wondered if he would ever figure it out.

A pit settled in his stomach at the thought, his neutral face dropping into a frown, and he saw Aelin’s face falter at the sight too, confused by his shift in mood.

“Here,” she said, passing him her copy of the book, “do you want to start looking for a quote to use as evidence for the first question?” She sent a small closed lipped smile with the words, and he took the book without a reply, flipping through it.

He was surprised to see the pages filled with annotations, ink covering the free spaces surrounding the text, going well beyond their required notes. He hadn’t known she was this interested in literature, but it wasn’t too much of a shock when he processed it. It suited her, and just made her more charming in his eyes.

But on closer examination, not all of the writing was related to the book. There were little jots of what seemed like maybe her own work, little lines of prose unrelated to the topic. 

And something about it was familiar, as if he’d seen it somewhere before. 

The pieces were slowly falling into place as he flicked through the book, Aelin oblivious to his struggle as she worked on figuring out their claim for the first question. 

It all clicked when he spotted a chunk of writing on an empty page after the end of a chapter, the words already known to him. 

It was a list of poems, jotted down and crossed out as if in planning.

There was the one he’d gotten a few days ago, followed by the one from the day after that. Under that was the one he’d seen yesterday 

_ In an endless garden of flowers I will always pick you _

  * _by a.j. Lawless_



And there, there was the one he’d read less than an hour before, the unmistakable poem there for him to see. The handwriting was even the same, the looping, graceful letters more familiar than he’d like to admit.

His heart caught in his throat, his mouth falling open slightly as his brain struggled to catch up.

That’s when he heard Aelin gasp slightly, turning to him with wide eyes as she snatched the book out of his arms, a deep flush on her face as she likely realized what was in the pages she’d just given him.

“I can explain,” she tried to say, her voice small.

“It - it was you,” Rowan choked out, his own eyes wide too. She bit her lip and looked away, and he was shocked to see tears fill her blue gaze.

“Fuck, this is awkward,” she said, trying to laugh it away as she wiped her eyes, “I didn’t mean for you to find out. This is so embarrassing.”

She sniffled and he sprung into action, grabbing a spare tissue from the pack his mom insisted he keep and handing it to her.

“Why are you embarrassed?” He said, not really thinking past his own shock. She just wiped her eyes with the tissue and then stared incredulously.

“My crush just found out it was me leaving stupidly cheesy poems on his locker because I was too nervous to go talk to him in person,” she laughed humorlessly, “that’s why.” Her tears were already gone, the momentary overload of emotions already passed.

“Crush?” Was the word he focused on, his whole body going still. “You have a crush on me?  _ You  _ have a crush on  _ me?”  _ It was his turn to stare incredulously, but Aelin just frowned, hurt clear in her gaze.

“No need to be rude about it, I know I may not be what you expected, but I have feelings too,” she said, looking away. Her assumption was so wrong that he had to laugh.

“Aelin,” he said, waiting for her to turn to look back at him. When she didn’t, he repeated himself. “Aelin.” She finally looked, her face apprehensive. “I didn’t mean for it to sound that way.” He smiled. “I just said that because I was surprised you liked me when I’ve convinced myself you’d never feel anything for me back.”

Her eyes widened again. “Back?”

He nodded. “Back.”

Aelin’s beautiful face split into a grin and she bit her lip to try and stifle it, even if her joy still radiated no matter how much she tried to hide it.

“Well then, Rowan,” she said, “how about you ask me on a date?”


End file.
